Leaf-Peeping Destinations

Foliage season draws visitors and locals alike to New England’s most spectacular natural settings – including Trustees properties throughout Massachusetts. Check out these delightful leaf-peeping destinations to add to your own favorites:

Bird Park, WalpoleThe park’s fields, wooded hillsides, and water courses explode in color. Beeches lining the allee at the Polley Lane entrance glow orange-red, while massive oaks and catalpa trees rise above the playground in clouds of yellow and orange.

Peaked Mountain, MonsonExplore woods roads through a former working forest and trek to a summit that rewards with panoramic views from Mount Wachusett to Vermont’s Green Mountains.

Weir Hill, North AndoverAscend the Stevens Trail to a scenic overlook offering panoramic views across a colorful carpet of Merrimack Valley woodlands. On a clear day, you can see as far as New Hampshire’s Mount Monadnock.

Turkey Hill, Hingham & CohassetThe hilltop’s broad field offers vistas of South Shore woodlands and Massachusetts Bay. Enjoy the field’s fading goldenrod, the reds and oranges of maple and oak in the middle distance, and beyond, the blue ocean.

Rock House Reservation, West BrookfieldCarter Pond becomes a kaleidoscope when the trees lining its shores reflect their seasonal colors in its surface. Located only a short walk from the parking lot, this is an ideal family destination.

Bryant Homestead, CummingtonThe iconic estate boasts 150-foot evergreens, yellow-leaved birches, and a glen of old-growth trees. But the Homestead’s hallmark is its entrance allee of sugar maples blazing a brilliant red in the fall.

Bear Swamp, AshfieldFollow the trail from the parking lot a few hundred yards to a serene Beaver pond, surrounded by maple, birch and other tree species showing off their colors. From the Apple Valley Overlook, enjoy a rainbow canopy of forest and to the north, the impressive Green Mountains of Vermont.

Bartholomew's Cobble, SheffieldBoasting more forest types than anywhere else in Berkshire County, “Bart’s” foliage show is memorable. Climb the Tulip Tree trail to the top of Hurlburt’s Hill, settle onto a bench, and take in the Housatonic Valley vistas.